Your tap water in Northern Kentucky - unless it's from a well, and even then I'm doubting how soft it is - is quite hard. That region isn't the greatest on the water front. Do you have GH & KH readings from a liquid test kit?

I doubt strongly that it was the Purigen causing a problem. You've likely stirred up something in the tank or filter and caused a mini cycle to hit.

Northern New York, not Kentucky.

Water goes through a whole house water softener. TDS of the tap is less than 10 ppm. I'll pull out test kit and test for chlorine, but I doubt it.

No, I have neither GH nor KH test kits. What are you suggesting?

Nothing was stirred up. The tank had not had anything done to it in a few days other than feeding and a drop or two of Flourish. The Purigen was rinsed, and then laid flat on top of the filter pad in the filter, nothing else.

Is your softener one that uses salt? Perhaps some of the chloride ions are reacting with the Purigen.

If the softener is working correctly as I assume it is doing (TDS <10 ppm from the tap), I don't think that would be it. But I could be wrong!!!

The softener only uses salt to clean the resin tank during the cleaning cycle. Once the cycle nears its end, the tank goes through multiple flush cycles to remove any remaining salt. Hopefully, my tap water is only coming into contact with clean, salt-free resin beads.

If the softener is working correctly as I assume it is doing (TDS <10 ppm from the tap), I don't think that would be it. But I could be wrong!!!

The softener only uses salt to clean the resin tank during the cleaning cycle. Once the cycle nears its end, the tank goes through multiple flush cycles to remove any remaining salt. Hopefully, my tap water is only coming into contact with clean, salt-free resin beads.

Is there any way to test your theory?

No idea how to test that. I know when I lived in a house with a softener, I would use untreated water, just to be safe. No science, just precaution.

No idea how to test that. I know when I lived in a house with a softener, I would use untreated water, just to be safe. No science, just precaution.

So, is softened water definitely bad? I don't remember seeing anything on Seachem's site or FAQ mentioning softened water, or salt for that matter.

As an update...today I rinsed the bag again, and placed it atop the filter pad in the filter. But, this time I stood the bag on end, with only the short side of the bag in contact with the pad. There was only about 1/4" of product in the water flow. Within 5 minutes I had to remove it as all the adult fish were again at the top of the tank mostly motionless, and pretty much stuck in the plants.

Either I have bogus product, or something in Purigen does not like my water!!!

I'm going to post on Seachem's site. Maybe I can get swap from them to make sure that what I have is legit. Or maybe they can suggest something to test for...

Now that you've posted pics, andygold - something is definitely not right.
You said the Purigen was bought new and that it was brown from the beginning - i.e. before any use whatsoever.
Unused/new Seachem Purigen comes in a fine mesh bag, or loose Purigen beads in a 250 ml jar, and is white, not brown. It gets brown after fairly lengthy usage in a filter, but returns to it's original white color after re-charging.
The pic you showed appears to contain product in an impermeable plastic-type bag - (like a re-sealable zip-lock type bag) - the water would not seem to flow through that for the Purigen to work. That's why you said it was still dry after the bottom of the bag sat in water. Purigen comes in a fine mesh bag that allows water to flow through it.

So something seems amiss here - what kind of bag is that exactly ?
No Purigen I've ever seen or bought comes in a bag like that.
If I'm right about the type of bag, and my eyes are not deceiving me, that product you got is not Seachem Purigen.

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